Taking Stock

I’ve not been down to the boat much this week. The main driver for that is to take stock of where I am and what I still need to do. I wanted t have the cockpit in a fit enough state by the end of this year. It’s a deadline I may struggle to hit. It’s not the end of the world though because I do have a week off in December where I am planning on spending every day at the boat. Subject to the weather of course.

I’ve used any spare time I’ve had to attempt to list everything that needs doing in the cockpit. In the hopes it will form a decent to-do list and help me plan for the rest of what’s left of this year. As usual, easily distracted me has gone off on a few tangents which will come in a follow-up post to this one. Over the last 18 months the aim has been to make the boat as water tight as possible. For the most part the work that’s been completed has been temporary and I’m now in the process of replacing those temporary solutions with more permanent solutions. That is, if I had to live on the boat and not move it, would I be happy and secure with what I’ve done so far. Answer? Not yet.

Here’s what still needs to be done, (to the cockpit at least) that’d keep me happy.

Hatch

• • Currently the hatch lid doesn’t quite fit, it’s a few centimetres short in both width and length. I used some spare wood, and slapped a coat of paint on it to match the rest of the boat.
  • The hatch is not attached to the boat in any way. I attempted to fit hinges but that was not successful (Of course not!) The screws weren’t anchoring into the fibreglass firmly enough.
  • There is no lock on the hatch to secure it to the door. I have purchased a latch (black) to go on the permanent lid.
• Build the hatch.
• Seal the hatch lid by encasing it in fibreglass, sanding and then painting the fibreglass.
• Attach the lid by using short bolts and nuts rather than screws with the hinges.
• Attach the latch and secure to door with a lock.

At a later stage I will be installing hydraulic hinges to keep the hatch open when needed.

Cockpit Window Frames

• • I stupidly removed the rubber seal from the exterior of the cockpit windows earlier in the year. This came back to bite me in my skinny white arse a few weeks ago when I was painting the cockpit. It was raining at the time and water was leaking into the cockpit where I was painting. These rubber seals were hiding the screws that keep the frames in place. There are some missing screws and that’s where the water was leaking in from.
  • I also very stupidly removed the rubber seals that were keeping the actual window panes in place and as a result some of them are loose in the frames. I did however have the foresight to keep an example of said seals so I can replace them like for like.
  • In an effort to hid the space between the window frames I applied some expanding foam, that was a mistake from start to finish. It didn’t set as hard as I was expecting, it looked messy and left horrible marks on the windows. Which, happily scrape off fine.
• I want to use black rubber sealant to cover the screws that keep the frames in place. This should stop water leaking on to the cockpit dashboard.
• At the bare minimum I would like to at least source the rubber seals that keep the window panes in place. I only removed it from two windows, but I would like to replace all of them.
• Remove the expanding foam (stupid fucking stuff!) from the gaps between the window frames, and then for the moment leave as is, I’m not sure what the plan is after.

 Door and Door Frame

• • After some contemplation I decided that my idea for a sliding door on the boat would not be practical, it would also have been difficult to seal it and stop water leaking into the cabin. Instead I built a proper door frame to house a traditional door.
  • That frame has been glued in place with fibreglass filler (that wonderful multi-purpose shite that I love to hate).
  • I built a door with some MDF which was the wrong thickness. The plan was to make it a more permanent fixture on the boat, but as usual my famous “thinking on my feet” got me into more bother than I was hoping for. Attaching locks and hinges to the door with the screws they came with was my downfall. Said screws are protruding through the door.
  • Another potential problem I may have is that once the door frame is glassed the current door will be just that little too wide to fit the frame.
• The door frame needs to be attached more permanently to the superstructure and to do that I am going to attach it by “glassing” it in place.
• Once the frame has been glassed in place it needs to be sanded and painted.
• Rebuild the door with thicker MDF and then seal it by encasing it in fibreglass, sanding, painting and then attaching to the door frame with hinges (that fit!)

Side Lockers

• • Earlier in the year I resized and repositioned the side lockers as best I could. The Virgo in me wanted them in exactly the same positions in the cockpit and of equal size. I framed these new side locker cut outs with some plywood. These were attached to the boat with fibreglass filler and they’re holding out pretty well, but they’re not perfect.
  • I built some side locker covers from plywood, covered them in a thin layer of foam and some faux leather. The idea here is to build into these covers some T.V. dinner trays, and to attach extendable legs so when opened they can double up as little side tables. These covers were built before I framed the lockers and are now too small. Story of my life, innit bruv?
  • Earlier in the year Junior and I cut plywood to fit in the interior of the side lockers, to be honest we did a pretty piss poor job of it (we were hungover) and this needs to be rectified.
• Glass the side lockers frames on to the side walls.
• Sand and paint the frames to match the rest of the cockpit (black like your mum’s soul).
• Rebuild the side locker covers, seal them by encasing them in fibreglass and then sand them,
• Install the T.V. dinner trays and attach extendable, fold away legs to the covers.
• Attach covers to the side locker frames with hinges and install locks to the covers.
• Glass the plywood on the interior of the side lockers and then give the locker interiors a coat of paint.

Transom

• • When I first bought the boat, the transom was sans a cover, in fact a previous owner had completely cut it away. The missing transom cover was one of the main sources of water getting into the boat. I built a new cover, firstly by covering the hole in wood, and then fibreglassed over the wood. Considering that it was the first time ever I’d used proper fibreglass I didn’t do a bad job of it. In fact it’s still holding out pretty well. It is however delaminating in some places and that needs looking at.
  • It’s a bit untidy in places where resin has marked the structure of the boat and that needs cleaning up. The cover is uneven in some places and needs to be finished properly.
• Apply another layer of fibreglass sand so it is smooth, straight and fair.
• Paint the cover. Black. Like Nelson Mandela.

Bench

• •  One of the other big sources of water into the boat was where a previous owner had extended the engine back, it’s unclear why they did this but at a best guess they were trying to get an engine in or out of the engine bay. I built a bench over the hole in the cockpit floor. I did this by building a frame over the hole and then covering the frame, firstly with MDF and then with fibreglass. Buoyed by my success with the transom cover, this also went pretty well, and is also still holding out very nicely.
  • Like the transom cover it was a bit of an untidy job which needs resolving.
• Apply another layer of fibreglass, sand so it is smooth, fair and straight.
• Paint the bench. Black. Like the hole in my skull.

Engine Bay and Cover

• • Like the transom cover and the engine bay expansion clusterfuck, the actual engine bay cover was pissing water into the boat. To fix this I built a raised frame around the engine bay and installed a cover. I glass the frame in and attached the engine bay cover with hinges. Firstly the actual cover was not big enough (shock, fucking horror!0 and the screws attaching the hinges were too long and protrude through the cover.
  • The fibreglass keeping the frame in place is delaminating.
  • The engine bay itself is a bit of a mess, lots of debris and patchy fibreglassing and paint work.
  • The underside of the interiors of the side lockers are also a mess.
  • The bulkhead between the engine back and the cabin has been removed starboard side. By me, for easier access, it was rotting anyway and needed replacing.
• I need to remove the raised frame from around the engine bay and reattach is more robustly.
• Build a new cover that fits. Reinforce the cover so it can bear more weight.Seal the cover by encasing it in fibreglass , sand and paint it. Black. Like Lewis Hamilton.
• Attach the cover with hinges and screws that fit, attach a lock and also find a way of keeping the cover open when needed.
• Screw in MDF to the underside of the side lockers. Glass them in and then paint them.
• Sand and paint the engine bay interior.
• Build a bulkhead between the engine bay and the cabin.
• Fibreglass new bulkhead and the existing bulkhead on port side. Paint both.

Mirror Mirror Wall

• • When I purchased the boat there was a rectangular shaped hole cut into the wall of the cockpit. This hole was then covered, by a previous owner with a mirror and the hole became not so  affectionately known as Mirror Mirror.
  • I removed the mirror and attempted repairing the hole, but that was about as successful as the Lost Prophets going on a comeback tour.
  • When I was toying with the idea of the sliding door, I took the easy patch and covered the entire wall over with thin MDF in order to attach the sliders for the door. Now that I have opted to go with a traditional door, that MDF has been removed thereby exposing the bomb site that is/was Mirror Mirror and my failed attempt at repairing it.
  • This is by far the biggest remaining bit of work left to do in the cockpit.
• I am going to attach a thicker piece of MDF to the wall, covering the entire wall. The idea is at first to attach into place with bolts and then to tie it in with fibreglass.
• The new wall will then be covered in fibreglass, sanded and painted to match the rest of the cockpit. Black. Like a rotting banana.